(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the fabrication of integrated circuit devices, and more particularly, to a method of creating an attenuated phase shifting mask by methods of repair thereof, whereby effects of pinholes are removed.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
During and for the fabrication of semiconductor devices optical projection tools are an integral part of the optical lithography technology that is fundamental to the creation of semiconductor devices and devices features. The optical projection tools conventionally contain an electromagnetic light source, a configuration of lenses and an optical projection mask that contains a replica of the image that is to be created. The image of the mask is, with the interference and the help of the configuration of lenses, projected onto the surface over which the image contained in the mask is to be created.
Semiconductor device improvements are traditionally and consistently achieved by sharp reductions in device feature dimensions, resulting in increasing device densities, which imposes on the supporting optical lithography technology the need for a continuing ability to provide images of smaller dimensions while maintaining image resolution.
Conventional photolithography masks are limited in this respect due to the increasingly smaller distance between adjacent light projections, which causes increased interference between closely spaced light projections. This has led to the development of phase-shifting masks, where effects of closeness of projecting light rays are cancelled by controlling the relative phase relationship between closely adjacent rays of light.
A phase shifting mask is provided with a layer of phase shifter material that is created in a pattern over the substrate of the mask. The patterned layer of phase shifter material causes the light that passes through the layer of phase shifter material to be out-of-phase by 180° with respect to the light that passes through the substrate over which the patterned layer of phase shifter material has been created. This results in a corrective action between the light that passes through the transparent substrate of the phase shifter mask and the light that passes through the layer of phase shifter material, this corrective action allowing further reductions in the images that are created using the phase shifter mask. Optionally, a phase shifter mask may also be provided with a patterned layer of opaque material such as chrome to further enhance the mask application.
Phase shifting masks are generally created using methods of photolithography. These methods at times lead to the introduction of fabrication defects in the surfaces of the created mask. For a phase shifter mask to be operational, especially considering the deep-submicron device features that must be created using the phase shifter mask, surface irregularities, such as voids occurring in a layer of phase shifter material, must be prevented or corrected if present. Any surface irregularity that occurs in any of the layers of the phase shifter mask, including the substrate of the phase shifter mask, results in a disruption of the there-through transmitted light and therefore in an interruption of a coherent interaction between the phase controlled light that is transmitted through the phase shifter mask.
Cost considerations relating to the creation of phase shifter masks lead to the need for repairing phase shifter masks that show any defects that may negatively affect the desired performance characteristics of the phase shifter mask. The invention addresses this concern and provides a method for the repair of attenuated phase shifter masks with a contact pattern.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,159,641 (Baume et al.) shows a method for repairing masks.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,357 (Neary et al.) discloses a method to repair PSMS.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,114,073(Yang) shows a method to repair PSMS.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,024 (Lin) discloses a structure and method for PSM repair.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,361,904 B1 (Chiu) shows a method for repairing the Shifter Layer of an alternating phase shifter mask.